


(first) steps to healing

by bulletdance



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 02:49:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18174845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bulletdance/pseuds/bulletdance
Summary: Fixing a family bond that is almost nonexistent is almost impossible, but given the right circumstances it can happen.Or, where Emiya decided he had to take matters into hand to help Arturia and Mordred to reconcile.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> gabi gave me a twitter prompt: anything that has arturia/emiya (platonic or romantic) is fine but bonus if there's mordred/ritsuka there
> 
> this somehow has two parts whoops  
> this fic is also not connected to my other fic

“Why the hell am I here again?” This was  _ not  _ what Mordred had expected when she saw Ritsuka excitedly heading to the kitchen, her steps light and her face beaming with excitement. It wasn’t his intention to exactly follow her (when he was still using most of his efforts to avoid any confrontation with his father) but Ritsuka did not hesitate to give a loud noise of excitement and physically drag Mordred to come along with her.

 

(Later, Ritsuka would claim that Mordred can still get easily spooked but Mordred would furiously continue to deny any of this statement.  _ He was merely caught off guard, that was all _ .)

 

Anyway, when Ritsuka had first poked her head into the kitchen to see who was there, to which Mordred only saw Emiya’s silhouette from his peripheral (which was not surprising, considering everyone silently and unanimously chose him as the chef for everyone since anything he made tasted  _ so damn good  _ and  _ somehow manages to cater to everyone’s tastes _ ) but when he followed Ritsuka who had already made her way to Emiya who was busy stirring the ladle the moment she stepped in, he almost screeched the moment he saw Arturia sitting patiently on the dining table who just stared at Emiya cooking away.

 

It was clear that Arturia paid no attention to Mordred’s presence anyway, so when he loudly declared he was leaving and going to bother someone else, Ritsuka immediately turned around to face him and start giving him the kicked puppy look (the worst part is that Mordred  _ is  _ soft to that look if Ritsuka were the one to be giving him that). Coupled with Emiya’s side glance at him as a reminder (or a warning, he could never tell when it comes to that guy) and Arturia’s frown when Emiya had paused in cooking for her, Mordred reluctantly sat down a seat away from Arturia’s right and stared to the other side of the room, forcing herself to not make any signs of acknowledging Arturia’s  _ very near  _ presence. If the tension in the room was palpable, nobody did the honour of trying to break the mood, which was probably the best as Emiya and Ritsuka pointedly ignore them as Ritsuka started helping Emiya prepare the plates and start prepping for dessert making while having small talks (to which at certain times, Emiya would make choked noises throughout their conversation, which Mordred did  _ not  _ want to know, at all considering the amount of shenanigans Ritsuka did). 

 

It felt like eternity before Emiya’s voice broke the silence and told them that the food was done and immediately as he finished his sentence, Mordred swore Arturia’s face was shining too brightly at the mention of her meal was ready. While Emiya was busy serving  _ extremely huge  _ portion for Arturia who was at the verge of drooling endlessly, Ritsuka had approached her to ask if he had wanted some as well since there was a lot of extra left.

 

“Nah, not really up to eating right now.” Mordred waved his hand dismissively before he watched Ritsuka leave to clean up the pots they had used and storing away the ingredients that they had no more use of at the time. When she left, Mordred was perfectly content at continuing the ignore King Arthur charade before he felt something poking on his left cheek. At first, he tried to ignore it but it grew more persistent that he snapped his head and stood up to see what the hell was her problem now, ready to scream profanities right to her face (which she always ignored but maybe when he pushes her buttons hard enough, she’ll finally snap). The moment he opened his mouth, a spoonful of fried rice (which was  _ really delicious _ ) was shoved into him, causing him to splutter for a moment before he finally chewed on the food and then swallowed while he marveled the taste.

 

“It tastes good, isn’t it?” Mordred, who was still dumbfounded at the fact that _Arturia actually spoon fed him_ _her food, which she would never do so to anyone else_ just nodded while staring at Arturia who still calmly at her food. “Now sit down.” Still dumbfounded, he wordlessly just followed what she told him to do before Ritsuka placed a plate in front of him despite the fact that he had declined the offer for food.

 

“Eat.” This time, Mordred snapped out of his trance hearing the tone Arturia was using against him (that  _ one  _ dismissive tone she would use against him) but deciding to ignore her, he began to eat his own portion of fried rice.

 

(And if either of them heard Ritsuka whispering to Emiya how this was a good start to mending their relationship, they both chose to ignore her words.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the talk before ritsuka and mordred arrived.

“Why exactly did you call me here for, Archer?” Emiya paused his process of chopping the onions when Arturia prompted the question up out of nowhere. They were having perfectly normal small talks as they chattered away with whatever they had in mind (and even reminiscing the Grail War together and pulling out several amused puffs of laughter too, looking back at their experience as fondly as they could) before they slowly ran out of things to talk about.

 

“I know how your stomach works, Saber and I also know for the fact that it’s still the same even when you’re summoned here.” As he said so, Emiya slowly turned around to face Arturia while adjusting his apron for a quick second before he focused his attention to her. Judging by the displeased look on Arturia’s face, he knew she wasn’t going to let it die there. After a few beat of silence, Arturia finally loosened the frown on her face slightly but never breaking the eye contact.

 

“I heard Master is coming here,” Arturia began as Emiya nodded twice at her statement, waiting for Arturia to continue with whatever she wanted to say. Seeing that he did not intend to interrupt her anytime soon, she continued. “And I understand the fact she is close with  _ him _ .” It was Emiya’s turn to give her a disapproving look the way Arturia’s tone had taken a shift when she was trying to mention Mordred without saying his name out loud. It was impossible for her to not notice the change of mood with their conversation, especially when Emiya began to cross his arms across his chest.

 

Arturia knows the talk is coming and Emiya  _ also  _ knows she does not like to get reprimanded by him in any instance.

 

“Are you still denying that he is of your flesh and blood?” Arturia gave a sigh before she got a stern look on her face. “Archer, this is not the time to discuss about this matter. I do not have the time for this nor do I wish for this conversation to happen once again.” Before she could even continue, Emiya held up his hand as a sign for her to stop talking, which, of course Arturia did not take kindly to and before she gave an outburst, Emiya started.

 

“Then when is the time to discuss about this? What exactly  _ is  _ stopping you from trying to reconcile with him? You know that it’s not going to hurt to at least  _ talk  _ with him. Whatever happened between you two is in the past now; it can’t be changed.” And Arturia knew,  _ she knows _ better than anyone that Emiya would understand the concept the most but she couldn’t exactly muster any counter arguments for his questions and she merely just averted her gaze, frustration clear on her face. When it was clear Arturia had nothing to say against him, Emiya sighed before he turned his back against her and started seasoning the ingredients he had finished chopping before Arturia began the conversation. He knew Arturia can be stubborn when she wants to and he honestly wished that she would not be this stubborn for once.

 

“Look, I’m not saying that things have to be mended  _ now _ , but at least give some effort. Master is probably dragging him here, so just  _ try doing something about it _ .” And with that, Emiya began to start focusing on his cooking while silence loomed until Ritsuka excitedly came in with Mordred who clearly was not happy when he saw Arturia staring at him.

 

(When Arturia had actually let Mordred eat a small portion of her food, and even personally fed him despite in such an unfashionable manner, Emiya was at least satisfied with the small progress they’re heading to. Better than nothing he supposes-- and the look Ritsuka shot him when they weren’t looking at them told him that she agreed with his sentiment.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> side notes:
> 
> * yeah these two planned this whole thing  
> * arturia has had this talk with emiya several times, sometimes it's with cu as well and other times it's just only cu and arturia
> 
> follow me on twitter @reddenedoath!


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